The Seattle Seahawks advanced to 4-0, thanks to a 31-23 rout of the Miami Dolphins. The score, however, does not indicate how close much of the game was. A pick led to a Chris Carson touchdown, which put the Seahawks up 7-0, but Miami fought back. The teams traded field goals; Miami got two more, and the score was 10-9 with 24 seconds left on the clock. Four pass plays later and the Seahawks scored another touchdown, going up 17-9 and they never had to look back.
Russell Wilson ended the day going 24-34 with 360 yards, with two touchdowns and a pick. That’s a good statline, but it was somewhat pedestrian compared to his recent output. The first touchdown was a three-yard pass to Travis Homer at the end of the half, while the second was a 17-yard pass to David Moore in the fourth quarter. Chris Carson also made some noise on the ground, rushing for 80 yards and a pair of scores.
Bobby Wagner was no slouch on defense, leading the Seahawks in tackles with 12, and not by a very slim margin either. K.J. Wright took second at eight tackles. Defensive tackles Anthony Rush and Bryan Mone combined for the lone sack on Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Cornerbacks Ryan Neal and Shaquill Griffin both intercepted Fitzpatrick on the day, with Neal doing so in his first career start. They also racked up five pass deflections between the two of them.
It was a well-deserved win for the Seahawks, even if they had to fight a bit more. The pass rush looked good, while the Miami run game failed to get off the ground. Through the first three weeks, the “bend, don’t break” mentality of the Seahawk defense looked very questionable, even while they were winning games. In Florida, however, people saw how that defense was supposed to look. Drive after drive, the Dolphins were forced to rely on field goals, scoring just one touchdown in the game.
That’s all there was to it. Carson proved yet again that he is a different breed of a running back, and Seattle proved that they didn’t need Russ to throw for 500 yards in a game to give them a chance to win. A great offense can only get a team so far, as shown by the Dallas Cowboys last week. Dak Prescott had thrown for five touchdowns, yet it didn’t matter because the Browns scored 49 points. The Seahawks still remain a strong number two in the league behind the Kansas City Chiefs, with a match against the struggling Minnesota Vikings coming up in Week 5.
